


you bought the whole pie

by verity



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual Character, Family Feels, Future Fic, Gen, Pack Feels, Pie, asexual!Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-25
Updated: 2012-11-25
Packaged: 2017-11-19 11:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/572838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's tough rattling around the house all by myself," the Sheriff says. "You boys are coming to dinner on Sunday nights from now on. Erica, too. You look like you could some feeding up. Do you eat anything aside from pie?"</p><p>"Yes?" Derek says. He's not really sure how they ended up here, or how all that pie went so fast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you bought the whole pie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophia_sol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophia_sol/gifts).



The day after Derek and Isaac get back from dropping Boyd at college, the Sheriff stops at their booth in the diner. He doesn't say anything at first, just hovers, one hand on his hip. He looks thoughtful.

Derek puts down his fork. "Sheriff."

"Boys." The Sheriff tilts his head.

Isaac is starting to look freaked out, that's not good. "Is there a problem?"

"I was just noticing your pie," the Sheriff says. "Last of the lemon meringue, and you bought the whole pie, so I'm in a bit of a pickle."

"Would you like to join us?" Derek says. Isaac is giving him the frantic NO NO NO stare, but Derek's pretty sure the correct answer here is courtesy. He's also pretty sure the Sheriff's not supposed to be eating pie, but Stiles isn't here. Stiles is, in fact, in Portland.

"Sure," the Sheriff says, signaling their waitress.

They eat the pie, Isaac in slow, uneasy mouthfuls, Derek in bites small enough to swallow quickly if the Sheriff starts interrogating him. The Sheriff eats with enthusiasm.

"Haven't had as much as a hamburger since Stiles left for school." The Sheriff licks some stray filling off his upper lip. "Kid's got spies everywhere. I pulled up at KFC last night and _they refused to serve me_. I went to Donut Palace this morning and your Erica was behind the counter."

"Did she give you a problem?" Derek kicks Isaac under the table because he looks like he's about to start in on the terrified giggles.

"No," the Sheriff says. "She did tell me that Stiles made her promise to tell me the nutritional content of everything I ordered, and wouldn't I like a cup of decaf, look at that line behind me. I ate a health nut cookie for breakfast this morning, Derek. I didn't know there was such a thing as a health nut cookie, it's a goddamn cookie."

"Right," Derek says.

"It's tough rattling around the house all by myself," the Sheriff says. "You boys are coming to dinner on Sunday nights from now on. Erica, too. You look like you could some feeding up. Do you eat anything aside from pie?"

"Yes?" Derek says. He's not really sure how they ended up here, or how all that pie went so fast.

Isaac kicks him under the table.

—

The first few dinners are tough—lots of "who's the alpha _now_ " from Isaac and Erica, constant texts from Stiles demanding that Derek investigate the pantry for contraband—but after a while, they get into the swing of it. Derek ignores the texts because they make him uncomfortable and Erica and the Sheriff bond over a shared love of bad procedurals. Derek could live happily without seeing another episode of _CSI: Miami_ , but aside from that, it's okay. He starts teaching Isaac to cook because Erica gets pissed off if she has to do anything more taxing than microwave a frozen dinner after work. They start out with easy stuff, crockpot meals, casseroles, stir-fry. Derek hasn't cooked much since Laura died, even now that they live in an actual house (Isaac's) with an actual oven and running water and stuff, and it's—nice.

No one tries to kill them between the time Boyd leaves for college and Christmas break.

After Stiles and Lydia take out the fairies with some kind of magic iron fragmentation grenade, Derek ends up at the Sheriff's house (he keeps trying to convince Derek to call him "John," yeah, that's not happening) drinking hot cocoa and trying to get warm while Stiles and Scott marathon Adult Swim. It's not even that weird.

—

Isaac quits his job at the cemetery and starts up at the state school where Scott's a junior the same month that Erica moves in with her boyfriend closer to the community college's main campus. Derek knows Isaac will be back eventually, but it's hard being in the house alone. The part-time job at the library starts to feel a little too part-time.

Derek mentions it to John on Sunday while Erica's doing the dishes and pretending not to eavesdrop. "I think I need a hobby," he says.

"Hard when they get their wings, isn't it?" John smiles at him, the same little half-smile that Stiles has that just pulls at one corner.

"I'm not their—parent," Derek says.

"I know, son," John says.

In the pause that follows, Derek can hear Erica humming under her breath some Disney song and the water sloshing in the sink. The house smells like John and Stiles, but it smells like Derek and Erica and Isaac, now, too; it smells like pack. It's a little overwhelming. Derek's parents never got to have an empty house. Laura was the only one they ever saw old enough to leave for college.

"Thanks," Derek says.

—

The Hale territory is established now; they have fewer tussles with other wolves, hunters respect Chris's explicit tolerance and implicit protection, and their encounters with the rest of the supernatural world have grown less hinky. Isaac has two more years to go and Lydia is getting her PhD, but the rest of the pack begin to trickle back to Beacon Hills. Scott starts teaching first grade at the elementary school, Allison joins a local architecture firm, and Stiles opens a supernatural consultation business, which means that he moves back in with his dad and Sunday dinners start to have a lot more kale in them.

"It's not that I've got anything against kale," Allison says to Derek after dinner one night, "but Stiles doesn't seem to understand that there are _other greens_. What's wrong with chard?"

"I hate chard," Boyd says. He's home now, too, temping until he finds something permanent. "What's wrong with spinach?"

"Everything," Scott says solemnly.

"I HEARD THAT," Stiles shouts from the kitchen. "ALL OF THAT. I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW."

Derek makes the turkey at Thanksgiving this year. He's thinking about going to culinary school; the community college has a good program. No big decisions yet, though.

—

Derek and Boyd open the cafe together. The first year of the cafe reminds Derek of the first year he was an alpha, with fewer actual life-threatening crises but less sleep. He's so busy he barely has time to think, which is good for him. Better than the therapy Lydia always tells him he needs when she calls, that's for sure.

They close early enough on Sundays to make it to John's for dinner. Stiles has moved in with his girlfriend, Jenna, so there's no longer a 100% forecast of unfortunate vegetables at dinner, but Derek never has energy to cook himself so the cuisine is a little bit less on the fancy side. At least Isaac has gotten really good at turkey meatloaf and mashed potatoes. 

Scott comes to the cafe pretty regularly to grade homework and hang out while he waits for his wife to finish up at work; QEA Architects (Quincy, Espinoza, and Argent) is right around the corner. Last year, Scott finally decided to join Derek's pack after a decade of waffling and shifting allegiances. It wasn't a big thing in the moment, but it's strange how settled Derek feels, how sometimes he gets hit with this wave of contentment when he ducks out of the kitchen and sees Scott sitting by the window with a stack of papers at his elbow and a big mug of coffee. Finally.

—

The third year of the cafe is the one with the weddings: Erica and Boyd, Lydia and Emily, Stiles and Jenna. The first two go off without a hitch, but Stiles and Jenna call it quits a month before the date to obvious mutual relief. Stiles moves back in with his dad and spends a lot of time babysitting for Scott and Allison, whose daughter Nina is the apple of everyone's eye. It's good to have kids in the pack. Derek's handling it.

"You think you'll have kids someday?" John asks him one Sunday. They're in the living room with Nina, who's playing with Stiles's old Brio train set.

Derek shrugs. He's thought about it, of course; he's the last Hale wolf, now that Peter's dead for good. "One round of teenagers was plenty for me," he says. 

"Fair enough, son," John says, clapping Derek on the shoulder.

—

Isaac's bachelor party gets kind of out of hand and Scott and Derek end up ditching early. Scott, fifteen years and two kids later, only has eyes for Allison; Derek just feels awkward around a bunch of guys and strippers. He leaves a generous tip before he and Scott hit up the diner for midnight pie.

"You better not have strippers at your bachelor party," Scott says with a sigh, digging into his slice of key lime. "I'm counting on you."

"Not planning on having one, so you should be safe," Derek says.

Scott looks up from his pie. "You don't have to be Batman forever, Derek. Have you ever dated anyone? Like, ever?"

It's hardly the first time Derek's been asked that question, but he's never felt like giving a real answer before. But it's late, and there's pie, and it's Scott, so Derek says, "Yes. Once. Allison's aunt."

Scott's quiet for a little while, pushing his pie around his plate. "Shit, dude."

"It's okay," Derek says. He can deal with it, he's been dealing with it, but he doesn't want to put it all on Scott's shoulders.

"No, it's not," Scott says. "Is that why you don't—"

Derek takes a bite of his pie. It's strawberry chiffon. "No. It's just—there's always other stuff to do. The pack, and the cafe, and—" He shrugs.

"But you're happy," Scott says, half a question.

"Yes," Derek says, because he is.

—

Stiles relaxes a little bit over the years and sometimes there's dessert after Sunday dinner, real dessert, not just fat-free frozen yogurt or sliced fruit. Derek starts making pies, because he takes Sundays off from the cafe, all kinds of pies: lemon meringue, blueberry, cherry, pumpkin, pecan. The pack is big enough that the kids have their own table in the living room, although Nina and Kevin keep complaining that they're in middle school and should be allowed to sit at the adult table already, geez.

John has been retired for a few years now and he's picked up the cooking bug, too; he's a big fan of stew and risotto in the winter, grilling out in the summer, all of the stuff that Derek's mom loved to make. Derek wishes he had her recipes, but they all went up in the fire. Sometimes he drives out to the space where the house used to be—it's been torn down for years, the basement filled in—and thinks about the family who died there, how much they'd have loved the one that's alive.

Stiles's daughter Sarah's favorite pie is apple. Derek makes that the most.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [ladyofthelog](http://ladyofthelog.tumblr.com) on tumblr, where I post assorted flotsam and jetsam.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] you bought the whole pie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/841957) by [sophia_sol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophia_sol/pseuds/sophia_sol)




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